Tribune Online News Story

Nearly a year of disputes between faculty and the dean of the MU College ofEngineering has led to a ``mistrustful and somewhat paranoid culture ofenemies and allies,'' according to a consultant's preliminary report.

MU business professor Michael Diamond, who studies organizational structureand change, was asked in April by provost Ed Sheridan to look at the powerstruggle in the engineering college.

Some engineering faculty members have been battling dean James Thompson,saying he has, among other things, abused university hiring procedures,unfairly changed promotion and tenure guidelines and shut them out ofdecision-making.

Diamond was to present his findings this afternoon at a closed meeting of theengineering college, though a copy of his preliminary report to the provostwas widely leaked yesterday.

Interim chancellor Richard Wallace, who has said the engineering school'sproblems are a top priority, is scheduled to attend the meeting.

Last week, four of Thompson's faculty critics asked him to resign.

``I have no plans to resign,'' Thompson said today in a prepared statement.``I am confident that we will continue to move forward and to grow a veryexcellent college of engineering.''

Diamond said today that he has met with all of the engineering faculty eitherin groups or one-on-one. The college has about 100 faculty, including itsbranch on the University of Missouri-Kansas City campus.

In his report to Sheridan, Diamond said the faculty is ``polarized'' and thedean has ``supporters as well as opponents.''

Diamond emphasized he is not out to reach his own conclusions as to who in theengineering college is right. Instead, he said, his goal is to put on paperwhat people in the college believe are the problems.

``The intent with the document and meeting today,'' Diamond said, ``is torepair the damage done and minimize hostility by returning to the college theability to address the problems.''

Diamond added that he is disappointed the report was released, saying it is an``internal document'' that can be ``easily misinterpreted.''

In it, Diamond wrote, ``Behind all the surface arguments and hostilities restthe following issues that seem to trigger shame, hostility and mistrust''among faculty:

``Unilateral decision-making is unacceptable.''

Research directors have been removed from positions of ``power, influence andstatus.''

Changes in promotion and tenure requirements have ``met with resistance andclaims of injustice.''

Some faculty view the dean's demands to bring in more research money asunrealistic.

Personnel changes in Kansas City have not been well received.

``The future of various programs in the college is unclear.''

The hiring of Bill Nunnally as director of industrial relations.

Faculty have pointed to Nunnally, a longtime friend of Thompson's, as anexample of Thompson's alleged hiring irregularities. They have accused thedean, who was hired in October 1994, of going around established procedures tohire friends and associates, a charge Thompson denies.

Provost Sheridan has acknowledged that the official MU hiring documents filedfor Nunnally contain errors, such as listing the wrong search committee. Somemembers of the committee listed in the paperwork have said they never met.

``This is incredibly sloppy,'' Sheridan said Friday of the paperwork. ``Wecannot have this kind of thing again.''
By TOM WALSH